Our Story

A Network for Accessible, Sustainable and Collaborative Research in Pediatric Palliative Care (PedPalASCNET) is a continuation of Canada’s first multidisciplinary research team with a focus on pediatric palliative and end-of-life care (PEOLC). The research network was first established by 5 investigators in 2004 as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Emerging Team and was called Transitions in Pediatric Palliative and End of Life Care (PedPalNET). It had a goal of creating knowledge and evidence so children with life-threatening conditions and their families get the best care possible.

As a result of further support from CIHR, the network was extended in 2011 to include 13 Co-Investigators, 16 institutions and 11 collaborative partners across Canada. The expanded network includes a team of interdisciplinary researchers with clinical and research expertise in: nursing, social work, medicine, and anthropology.

What we do

PedPalASCNET links members of the research group and engages in resource sharing, capacity building and knowledge translation. The aim is to facilitate multi-directional communication between the research team and clinicians, policy makers, advocacy groups and families by bringing PEOLC research to these groups and enabling stakeholder feedback. The network will work towards a national research agenda using a bio-psychosocial-spiritual model to help to determine which treatments and interventions are most effective in strengthening positive, and mitigating negative, outcomes for children with life-threatening conditions and their families, from diagnosis through to bereavement.

Why we are unique

PedPalNET was the first multi-centre team of pediatric palliative care researchers in the world to study children with life-threatening conditions and their families with an emphasis on comfort and quality of life. PedPalASCNET will continue the work done by PedPalNET as a unique nation-wide consortium of researchers with strong collaborative links to major palliative care centres across Canada, emerging palliative care clinical-research networks and disease specific networks. The expanded network will enable development of clinician-researchers and clinician-knowledge brokers at each of the major health care centres in Canada.